Washington Post/George Will article..
 

I'm not sure I ever thought I would see the day that George Will wrote about horse racing, Illinois based at that, in an op-ed piece in the WAshington Post, but he did. This is a ruling that has huge ramifications for all parts of the Illinois, and to some degree, the national horse racing picture and I am obviously biased towards how I want the Supreme Court to rule, but Will is certainly of the opposite opinion.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...041002606.html

Hmm, interesting read.

I bet there is something in the licensing of the river boat casinos that required this, thus they were aware of the barriers of entry/cost of doing business. Will's analogy to a taking of money from Bill Gates/internet and giving it to newspapers is specious. The internet and newspapers have been around for some time now, this would be an entirely new taking, not a taking established at the time of inception and agreed upon in order to conduct business. Additionally, newspapers and the internet do not need to be licensed and then do not pay an additional "fee" to the state, above and beyond payroll taxes, real estate taxes, etc., to conduct their business while racing, and I assume, casions do.

How did George Will get onto this subject? Are the riverboat casinos complaining about the transfer of money? If so, it is as folks have been saying for awhile, casinos will not be the white knight for racing. Next you'll have the casino section of a racino balking at the transfer of money from the casion side to the racing side.

make them pay that was the idea all along..

Complaining is an understatement. When this bill originally passed approving the allocation of a percentage of certain(based on geographical proximatey to tracks) casinos profits to the tracks. This was many years ago. The casinos took it to the Illinois Supreme Court and actually won. But then the appellate court over ruled saying the original decision was wrong and ruled in the tracks favor. The casinos then appealed that and lost and now at their last resort, The US Supreme Court, who should rule in the next 60 days. Meanwhile, there is about $80 Million in an escrow awaiting distribution to all tracks....a percentage to the physical building and a percentage to purse funds...based on the Supreme Court denying the casino's appeal. Plus this law was extended another 3 years by a last minute signing by Blagojevich before he was hauled off to jail. That went over real well:rolleyes:

Will and the slimey new generation of gaming operators, have either forgotten or don't want to remember why racing is due their tithe... Racing did the heavy lifting, for 150 phucking years, for these gaming putzes. They're johnny-come-latelies to gambling in America.

I imagine it did not go over really well. It just makes horse racing look like a sleazy money grab. Hopefully the SC looks at the agreement that was signed and the ensuing agreements and tells them to pay up and then re-negotiate their license with the state.

Talk about negotiating in bad faith.

Will may have lost it. his latest is a long harangue against people who wear denim. i'm not joking.

that was one of the sticking points when they first put in the boats here and the casinos knew that from the beginning.

The horse tracks deserve their rightful portion, as it was agreed to when the casinos were built.

The casinos have probably spent the $80 Mil they owe the tracks in what they have paid lobbysists just to keep the tracks from getting slots. :zz:

You may be more right than you think.... also throw in the legal bills :eek:

Or the IL legislature can pass new laws allowing casinos at the tracks. Then all will be fair.

Tomorrow will be a piece on why those darn kids should get off his lawn.

Seriously, Will's a pompous gasbag who just makes things up when pesky things like facts contradict what he wants to believe.

Should boxing get a share of the UFC/MMA action as well?

It isn't the same. if UFC decided to have a few boxing matches they would be entirely within their rights to. If racetracks wanted to put in slots they arent allowed to. Apples and Oranges. Plus UFC is already fading...

Aren't casinos and racetracks apples and oranges as well? Could a casino put on horseraces if it wanted to?

I don't think the UFC could just decide to put on a boxing event, it isn't that easy. And why would they want to? Boxing is a dead sport, just as horseracing seems to be.

They are both in the gambling business. Simple really. If a casino applied for dates i'm sure they could hold horseraces.
Boxing isnt anymore dead than horseracing. And the UFC could just decide to hold boxing matches if they wanted to. Just have to get a license through the state commission. We could hold matches if we wanted to. And MMA seems to be a fad btw.

Looked at his biography. He was a 'town kid', the son of a professor of philosophy at the University of Illinois. He probably grew up looking down on the 'farm kids' who wore jeans into town as hopelessly ignorant bumpkins. (That even happened in small towns.) He sounds like he wants to preserve the ability to judge a person's place in the social hierarchy by their clothing; all those people in jeans! he can't tell if they are lumpen proletariat or computer geniuses. Oh horrors. Bet he hates for women to wear pants, too. Heaven forfend that women should actually be comfortable in their clothes.

He does like baseball